The Night After
by Ravenrockstheworld
Summary: Zuko and Katara can't stop thinking about each other the night after the events in the cave. Oneshot. mild Zutara. rated K plus just to be safe.


**Okay, here's a fic I wrote regarding the season finale. It's Zuko and Katara's separate thoughts on the occurrences in the cave. A hint of Zutara, should you see it that way. **

**Warning: Spoilers for the season finale!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender. All the quotes I used belong to the amazing creators and writers that gave us this show. **

**----------------**

The night sky was one of the most beautiful she had ever seen. It was the deepest shade of black, strewn with hundreds of stars. The moon was new. Normally, Katara would have lost herself in it, thinking of home, her family, her mother, people she'd met, or the journey ahead of her; tonight, however, she could only think of _him. _His face blotted out the stars, his voice filled her ears. She realized that ever since she'd met him, her thoughts had never strayed to him like this.

Katara sat up and looked at the ground beneath her. Sokka was snoring loudly beside the remnants of their fire; Toph was in her stone tent; The Earth King and his bear, Bosco, were sleeping on the other side of the fire; Aang was lying by Appa, his injuries making Katara slightly nauseous. How could she have let this happen to him?

Even worse... it wasn't Aang her thought had been fixated upon.

'_I have changed.'_

For a moment, Katara was back in the catacombs under Ba Sing Se. The scene before her was that of Zuko, just sitting on the ground, taking everything she yelled at him. Then she'd begun to cry and he'd revealed the one thing they had in common. Everything went so fast from then on, and the next thing she knew, she was offering Zuko her precious water from the spirit oasis to heal his scar. She'd touched his face and her heart had skipped a beat. Her thoughts careened to the battle in the cavern. He'd betrayed her. Zuko had chosen the sister with whom he apparently hadn't been on very good terms with over Iroh and Katara.

Katara stood and shook her head. Zuko had betrayed _Iroh_, not her. He can't have given her a second thought.

Katara looked around. They had landed Appa not far from a lake, and Katara made her way there. It was deep and cold and on any other day she wouldn't have even thought about going in. But today wasn't any other day.

'_It might clear my head'_ she thought. Zuko was still at the back of her mind. Without either further hesitation or bothering to take her clothes off, she walked into the freezing lake. The water flowed around her and she felt like it was cleansing her spirit

Katara's thoughts turned to her mother. She remembered, her smile, her face, her laugh, her voice. Then she remembered her mother's death, and she was back in the cave again.

'_The fire nation took my mother away from me'_

'_I'm sorry. That's something we have in common.'_

Zuko had been sympathetic in the cave. She had never seen that side of him before; the side that showed he had a heart, that he was human. It was hard to believe that the terrifying, angry teenager she had fought against for so long had another side to him, a side that was capable of kindness, sympathy, and love.

Katara realized she was smiling. She dove under the surface of the water: another attempt at clearing her head. One that failed.

'_It's just that, for so long now, whenever I would imagine the face of the enemy, it was your face.'_

'_My face...'_

He had touched his scar, and she'd realized her mistake; he'd thought she'd meant his scar. She would admit, his scar had scared her the first few times she'd seen him, but after fighting with him became a regular occurrence, she'd become used to it. It was just part of her enemy's face. Lots of people had scars. She could see how others would judge him by it. It could mark him as a failure, a banished prince. He didn't see it that way anymore, but she knew others would. If not for his scar, he would be nearly unrecognizable from a distance with his new hairstyle an Earth Kingdom clothes. She felt sorry for him. Then, an idea had struck her. What if she could free him of the scar? He could leave his history behind and choose his own destiny without the reminder. Her normal healing powers wouldn't work, but the water from the Spirit Oasis might. He'd agreed to let her try.

She'd touched his face, and she couldn't believe that she was inches away from one of her greatest enemies. She'd gathered her strength and was ready to begin when Aang and Iroh had burst through the wall. What would Aang think? She thought. He was young – he would jump to conclusions. He would be angry. So, as soon as he came, she hid the water from the Spirit Oasis from him and ran over to hug him.

She had tucked the water from the Spirit Oasis into her clothes again; there would be time to heal Zuko's scar after this all done. She had regretted leaving, breaking the moment they'd shared, but Sokka and Toph needed her help. Aang had bent a tunnel in order to get into the cave. The two of them were about to walk through it. Before entering the tunnel, she looked back at Zuko, trying to communicate that she was sorry, that she didn't really want to leave him, but she couldn't stay. He just barely glanced back at her – was that regret? – no, impossible. Her heart was heavy, but full of hope. She was certain that she would have two new benders on her side, one of whom could teach Aang how to firebend. But she had turned away from them, from Zuko. That was the last she'd seen of the 'new' Zuko.

'_I thought you had changed!'_

'_I have changed.'_

Katara brought her head back up above the surface of the lake. She sighed. Had he been delusional or something? He was the same old Prince Zuko, the angry firebender, bent on capturing the Avatar. He hadn't changed at all.

But she'd felt different with him in the cave than she had every other time they had been close to each other. Her heat had skipped a beat – from nerves, she told herself – but she hadn't been nervous. No, far from it; she'd been sure that this was what the water from the Spirit Oasis should be used for – freeing Zuko from his scar, helping him to become a new person. She'd felt inexplicable warmth towards him. Had it been because of the new personality Zuko had seemingly developed? She'd thought, no, _known, _that she could trust him back in the caves. She had been sure. _Well, I was wrong, s_he thought bitterly.

_What had his mother been like? _She forced herself to wonder. Had Ursa been a kind and understanding mother, one that had loved Zuko with all her heart? Had Ursa been like Katara's own mother? Or had she been cruel and unforgiving like her husband, Fire Lord Ozai? Somehow Katara thought that Ursa had been kind and attached to Zuko. What would she have thought of her son's betrayal? She floated on the surface of the water and stared at the stars again.

Katara remained in the frigid waters of the lake, thinking of Zuko, Ursa, and Iroh for almost an hour. Then, she swam to the edge of the lake and pulled herself out of it. She bent the freezing water out of her hair and clothes, but she was still shivering as she walked back to the camp. With Zuko still on her mind, Katara curled up in her sleeping bag. She was still shivering, but soon she fell asleep. When she did, she dreamed that Zuko came to her and put his arms around her to warm her body and heart. In her dream, she fell asleep in his arms, and then Zuko slit her throat.

**----------------**

Ba Sing Se, the once proud, capital of the Earth Kingdom, had fallen to the Fire Nation. The Earth Kingdom was theirs. Zuko looked out the window of the spacious room Azula had given him. He could see Ba Sing Se spread out before him. The city had survived a 600 day siege led by his Uncle, but not a coup led by his sister.

Had he made the right choice? Nothing meant more to him than the love of his father. _Nothing. _But after he'd had that dream, he had been truly happy. He and Iroh, Uncle Iroh, who had loved him, were actually making a good life for themselves. And then Azula had told him he could return to his father. After over three years of trying to redeem himself in his father's eyes, it was possible.

'_Ever since I lost my son...'_

'_Uncle, you don't have to say it.'_

'_...I think of you as my own.'_

'_I know Uncle.'_

He had betrayed Uncle Iroh, the uncle that had stood by him and taught him through those years of banishment. He had done it for his father, for his father's love. Nothing was more important to him.

For some reason, the Water Tribe peasant girl's face popped into his head. Her name was Katra or something like that. They had something in common, the two of them: Their mothers' deaths. She had obviously loved her mother, as he had loved his. He felt sorry for her.

Zuko had felt an urge to comfort her when she'd begun to cry. He'd been there before: the sick feeling in the pit of the stomach, the sense that it was all his fault, somehow. Then the tears well up before they can be stopped. In those moments when he was young, right after Ursa had disappeared, the one thing he had yearned for was for someone to tell him it wasn't his fault. But of course, no one had been there. He thought about the waterbender again.

When the Dai Li had first thrown him into the cave, she'd yelled at him, telling him how horrible he was. Every word she had said had hurt. Every word she had said was true. He hadn't defended himself.

'_You're a terrible person, you know that? Always following us, hunting the Avatar, trying to capture the world's last hope for peace! But what do you care? You're the Fire Lord's son. Spreading war and violence and hatred is in your blood.'_

Only then had he defended himself. He was nothing like his father. She had no right to insult him based on the fact that he was the Fire Lord's son. She had not even known his mother, the parent he thought he was most like. Or at least he liked to think that.

'_You have no idea what this war has put me through – me personally! The Fire Nation took my mother away from me!'_

The waterbender had been wrong then. He knew exactly how she felt and what she had been through. So, he offered what little comfort he could – he told her he'd lost his mother as well, letting her know that he knew how she felt. It seemed to surprise her enough to stop her from crying. And she apologized; much more than he'd ever expected to receive from her. The kindest thing he would have thought to receive from her was the dropping of the subject and silence. But she'd gone a step further. He found himself able to open up to her, and she opened up to him.

'_It's just that, for so long now, whenever I would imagine the face of the enemy, it was your face.'_

Zuko's hand had jumped to his scar. His face... his scar. Even the waterbender, who was usually so kind – to her friends – couldn't see past the scar. He knew the scar didn't mark him anymore; nobody else did. But she'd quickly corrected herself. So she could see past it. He'd thought no one but Uncle Iroh and his mother would ever be ale that accomplish completely and fully. He'd felt a glimmer of hope: he'd seen her with her friends. She was kind. He had been their enemy, and she'd offered to try help Iroh after they'd fought with Azula. It was something Zuko imagined his mother might have done in that situation. The waterbender could see past his scar, so he felt he could he could trust her with what he'd recently discovered about the scar and his identity. He wished he could be free of it, but he never would be.

'_Maybe you could be free of it.'_

He'd felt like he'd been doused with cold water. It was more than he could hope for, to be free of the scar. He had been ready to move on from the identity that his scar had finalized, the destiny it represented. He had thought that it would always be there to remind him of his turbulent past. The girl had healing abilities; but it was a scar – it couldn't be healed. All hope had left him.

'_This is water from the Spirit Oasis at the North Pole. It has special properties, so I've been saving it for something important. I don't know if it would work but...'_

The flask of water was small and the water inside it was not easily obtained. How could special water help? He had been doubtful, but then he had remembered the North Pole. The Spirit Oasis had been a strange place. The girl had actually presented a challenge when they fought. She had been determined to protect her friend the Avatar. He had certainly felt something there; the place was obviously spiritual to the waterbenders. He decided to let her try. He closed his eyes. She touched his scar with soft, gently fingers: the first time anyone save himself had touched it.

And then the Avatar blasted through the wall. Zuko had been ready to fight alongside the waterbender, protect her if need be, but the Avatar had ruined all that. The waterbender had whipped the healing water away faster than he could see. She'd left his side and ran to the Avatar, with whom Zuko had sworn he would never make amends. Iroh had told them to go find their friends. The Avatar had run off into the tunnel eagerly and the waterbender had followed, albeit somewhat reluctantly. Then, at the mouth of the tunnel, she had looked back at him – was the regret? – no it couldn't be – and he had turned he head only slightly and looked at her out of the corner of his eye. She had followed the Avatar.

'_Maybe you could be free of it.'_

The waterbender had offered to try and remove Zuko's scar. She had dangled the opportunity in front of his face, and then, just as he was about to close his fingers around it, she had ripped it away from him. She and the Avatar had together. She'd had a choice. She could have stayed a little longer and at least tried to heal the scar. But she hadn't. The Avatar had stolen her from him. She probably hadn't even given Zuko a second thought.

And then Azula had shown up. She'd offered him redemption, honour, a chance to become the prince he had been before his banishment. He could receive the love of his father again.

Zuko shook his head. He had never received the love of Fire Lord Ozai.

'_Azula was born lucky. You were lucky to be born.'_

Azula had assured him that he had been instrumental in the fall of Ba Sing Se and the Earth Kingdom, and their father would be proud of him. He would be a hero back home: all the citizens of the fire nation would cheer his name. Ozai would welcome his return with pride and love.

But Zuko had betrayed Iroh. Iroh had been a father to him through all his years of banishment, though Zuko hadn't really acknowledged it. Iroh had begged him not to return to the Fire Nation. He'd said that Ozai would never love him; that it would be an act, a charade put on by Azula and Ozai. Iroh loved him. Iroh had been a real father to him.

'_I think of you as my own.'_

If he returned, Zuko had told himself, he would have the resources to track down the Avatar and capture him. There was nothing he wanted more, except for his father's love. He hated the Avatar. Because of him, Zuko had spent years of his life searching. The Avatar had become a symbol of his father's hatred for him. He had been forced to don the mask of the Blue Spirit and rescue him from Zhao's clutches, with the intention of taking him for himself, only to have his life saved by the Avatar – TWICE – and let him go.

'_Do you think we could have been friends?'_

Anger flared within him at the memory, and he pounded the window sill with his tightly clenched fists. Even thinking of the Avatar and his friends brought up anger within him. He would never, ever work alongside the Avatar.

'_I've been saving it for something important.'_

The waterbender was in his head again. Had she really thought that healing his scar was important? Zuko sighed and relaxed. They'd been enemies for so long, and yet she would heal him. Zuko remembered that he'd have to fight her again. She was a good opponent. He regretted betraying her, but she had hurt him first, by not healing his scar.

'_I thought you had changed!'_

Had she been hurt, he wondered, that he had betrayed them? She had seemed taken aback. He had felt guilty for a few seconds after defending himself – he _had _changed – and then he had remembered how she'd whipped the water away.

Zuko sighed and realized the sky was lightening. He'd spent the whole night thinking about the water bender and his choice to betray Iroh. There was no going back now. He would be a hero back home. His father would love him. He would be Prince Zuko of the Fire Nation once again, not Li, some anonymous refugee working for his uncle in a tea shop in Ba Sing Se. Zuko turned away from the window and slid into his bed. In a few moments he was asleep.

**----------------**

**So, what did you all think? Too long? Too much of a recap? To repetitive? Did I have – Gaspe! – bad grammar? If so, please tell me! And hey, if it was perfect, you can tell me that too! ;-) :D Please review and tell me what you thought!**


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